Following is the transcript of Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris's
announcement of the certified vote recounts in the Florida presidential election.

HARRIS: Good evening. I'm going to read a brief statement, but please understand,
on the advice of our legal counsel, I won't be answering any questions this
evening.

First of all, I'd like to thank all of the independently elected supervisors
of elections, their staff, their volunteers for the extraordinary work they
performed over the past seven days. And they've just been terrific.

And I'd also like to acknowledge the overwhelming support that we have received
as we've worked to fulfill our statutory responsibilities in ensuring a consistent,
accurate and independent process.

As of 5 p.m. today, the director of the Division of Elections reported receiving
certified returns from all 67 counties, as required by law. In the race for
the president of the United States, these certified results from Florida's 67
counties for the top two candidates are as follows. Governor George Bush: 2,910,492.
Vice President Al Gore: 2,910,192.

The usual practice of the state Elections Canvassing Commission is to certify
these returns as soon as the compilations are completed by the division's staff.
However, in three Florida counties--Palm Beach, Miami-Dade and Broward Counties--these
counties may be contemplating amended returns based upon manual recounts not
completed as of today's statutory deadline.

Within the past hour, the director of the Division of Elections faxed a memorandum
to the supervisors of elections in these three Florida counties.

In accordance with today's court ruling confirming my discretion in these matters,
I'm requiring a written statement of the facts and circumstances that would
cause these counties to believe that a change should be made before the final
certification of the state-wide vote. This written statement is due in our office
by 2 p.m. tomorrow.

Unless I determine, in the exercise of my discretion, that these facts and
circumstances contained within these written statements justify an amendment
to today's official returns, the state Elections Canvassing Commission, in a
manner consistent with its usual and normal practice, will certify statewide
results reported to this office today. Subsequently, the overseas ballots that
are due by Friday will also be certified, and the final results of the election
for president of the United States of America in the state of Florida will be
announced.

We will continue to keep you informed of the relevant developments as they
occur.